Category: Music
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The Am-Azing (Moltmaker’s) Beatles Museum, Alkmaar
Alkmaar in Holland is perhaps best known for its traditional cheese market. Burly men have paraded the streets of Alkmaar for hundreds of years, all dressed in costumes whilst selling their wares. And there’s also a cheese market. Perhaps less well known, however, is Alkmaar’s Beatles Museum. The obvious question is “Why Alkmaar?” Although the…
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A User Guide To Napster (Before It Became Legal)
Napster. An invidious presence which contributed to the decline of the music industry and facilitated mass piracy and the collapse of album sales, not to mention being responsible for our having to see Justin Timberlake onscreen in the film “Social Network”. All guilty as charged. But this enabler of free file-sharing also allowed great numbers…
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Glastonbury 2014: In Pictures
From the opening chords of “I Predict A Riot” by The Kaiser Chiefs on the Other Stage to kick things off, to Kasabian’s triumphant closing show, the performers at Glastonbury played their part in a truly memorable festival. Of course what those reviews of shows don’t tell you is what life was like when we…
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The Black Keys – Live at Glastonbury: Sunday – Pyramid Stage
It has been a long and winding road for Akron, Ohio’s finest band to reach the heady heights of the Pyramid stage, Glastonbury. On the way, they have paid their dues through long years of touring (I first saw the Black Keys play at the now defunct London Astoria in front of a few hundred…
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Glastonbury 2014: Hey Ho, Let’s Go…
Attempting to buy Glastonbury tickets has become a national sport. It’s like the National Lottery or Euromillions, but with less chance of winning. Everyone knows someone who has “won”, but it never happens to them. It’s like a slightly crueller version of The Grand National, as many fall at the first hurdle, or like the…
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The Ups And Downs of Music’s Message Boards.
Life had its challenges thirty years ago. Picture the scene: across the globe a despot Russian leader creates an atmosphere of fear. A disappointing England routinely exits The World Cup early. And this happened thirty years ago also. But one thing we didn’t have to deal with thirty years ago was the minefield of internet…
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The Wonder Of Internet Message Boards: Not Just For Lunatics And Trolls
The Internet has irreparably harmed the music industry in just the same way as being a pillock has irreparably harmed Justin Bieber. Illegal downloading has haemorrhaged cash away from artists, meaning record companies can no longer afford to invest as much money and time in developing new bands over the long haul. Revenues generated by…
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Rik Mayall
I am so very sad at the passing of Rik Mayall earlier today, aged just 56. Rik was perhaps the greatest comedian of his generation, from a rich vintage that included Rowan Atkinson, Ade Edmonson and Ben Elton. There aren’t many people who have ever stolen the show when appearing on screen with Rowan Atkinson,…
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Why Listening To Music In 1984 Was Worse Than 2014 (One Direction Notwithstanding…)
Even in 2014 life has its minor irritations: “Unexpected item in the bagging area”. “Incorrect username or password”. “Nick Grimshaw”. But it isn’t all bad news. A few days ago I wrote down a few examples of how our lives have been made easier through the years, in particular relating to finding and listening to…
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What Is The Greatest “Not Officially Released” Album?
There’s something about unreleased songs and albums which is wholly intriguing. An unreleased record taunts us whilst unheard, causing divine despair for the days that are no more, or whatever the poet said. Never mind the fact that the artist or record company thought the release of such excrescence might cause irreparable harm to the…
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Ten Other Things Gary Barlow Has Avoided
Gary Barlow’s tax avoidance strategies have hit the headlines in the UK recently, with MPs calling for the return of Barlow’s OBE*** which was awarded for his charity work. The baying for Barlow’s blood from MPs follow revelations that the singer invested in tax avoidance schemes now declared invalid, reportedly leaving Barlow owing HMRC tens…
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How To Mend A Record That Skips And Jumps…With A Toothpick
It is possible to mend a scratched record – and I’ve done it! Mending a broken record is the holy grail for many record collectors. It also gives you a tremendous feeling of satisfaction when you succeed. When I say “broken” I mean an old record in one piece that nevertheless skips or jumps, presumably…
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See Beth Orton, The Hosts and Scroobius Pip for £10 At Essex Festival The Village Green
As summer approaches, thoughts turn to the summer season. Whilst for the landed gentry this means the quiet civility of Ascot, Henley and The Hurlingham Club, for the rest of us it can only mean the sheer joy of mud, rain, noise, plastic cups filled with various unidentified warm bodily fluids, chemical toilets and the…
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Yeah Yeah Yeah by Bob Stanley: The Chapter-by-Chapter Spotify Playlists Page
I had a terrific reaction from Twitter to my article about Bob Stanley’s history of popular music, “Yeah Yeah Yeah” back in May 2014… Like a nervous boy asking out the prettiest girl in school to the disco, I enquired as to whether anyone would like to help set up a page of playlists to accompany each…
Every record tells a story 